As the brand-new rendering above shows, the luxury condo tower designed by Jean Nouvel will boast an unusual amenity: floors 2, 4 and 5 of 53W53 will serve as new gallery levels for the Museum of Modern Art when construction is completed. Additionally, according to a fact sheet, "benefactor W... View full entry

“Every project is an adventure, is a passion,” states Jean Nouvel in a new documentary that follows the Pritzker Prize-winning architect as he travels around the world. The fifteen-minute film, titled Jean Nouvel: Reflections, includes reflections by Nouvel on the major achievements of his... View full entry

The people of Geneva have narrowly rejected a controversial plan to extend and renovate the city’s Musée d’Art et d’Histoire by the French architect Jean Nouvel. The “non” camp won the public vote on 28 February with 54%.

Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Paris designed the planned extension, which was approved by Geneva’s municipal council last May, in collaboration with the local firms Architectures Jucker and DVK Architectes.[...]

Gone is the “Art Bay,” with a glass garage-like door that would have allowed visitors to enter galleries straight from the street.

Gone, too, is the fourth-floor “Gray Box,” with acoustic absorption panels through which passers-by could have peered up at performance art in progress.

And there will be no new public entrance to the sculpture garden on 54th Street.

The Museum of Modern Art has eliminated these polarizing elements of its sweeping redesign, museum officials said on Tuesday...
— the New York Times

MoMA officials also released more information on the construction, slated to begin in February with total costs estimated between $390 million and $400 million. The Diller, Scofidio + Renfro-led renovation is the second major redesign for the influential museum in recent memory. Just over ten... View full entry

Nouvel’s aspirations for 53W53, scheduled for completion in fall 2018, sound almost modest: “It’s going to try to hold its place, [...]

It’s going to try to be good enough for New York … it’s going to try to make its own small contribution, and it’s done in a way that ensures this contribution is readable, understandable, and it’s maybe a bit more precious than others. And it’s a little linked to this notion – a fairly disputed notion these days – that architecture is still an art, sometimes.”
— theguardian.com

City Realty made the rendering above, which they say gives us an idea of what the city will look like in 2018 based on projections for buildings currently being planned or already in construction: "New York City skyline circa 2018 2,500 feet above Central Park. Image features upcoming supertall skyscrapers such as One Vanderbilt, 53W53, 432 Park Avenue, 225 West 57th, and 111 West 57th Street are completed."
— gothamist.com